USA travel - medical insurance

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robocat

109 posts

Master Geek

#320316 31-Jul-2025 01:29

Anyone have advice on how to select travel insurance that actually works if you have a medical problem traveling to the US?

You can't tell the value of travel insurance until you have an expensive problem... And I assume you're level of care really depends on the contracted provider in the US.

By default I will choose Southern Cross Travel insurance (at least they are member driven rather than profit driven?). But it doesn't appear to be expensive enough (compared to what US citizens pay per month) so I'm worried the coverage is poor.

I don't want to be bankrupted by the medical system there (bankruptcy seems to be the default if anyone has a serious medical issue).

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Smpl Mnmlst
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#3398587 31-Jul-2025 05:12

You may find this recent post helpful - and that whole thread. My post there is about Canada and Southern Cross but it would be the same for USA.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

shk292

2857 posts

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#3398625 31-Jul-2025 08:49

It's all down to risk and probability. If you're a US citizen, living the American lifestyle and permanently resident there, this will presumably entail a reasonably high chance you'll need medical treatment while insured. Comparatively a traveler who visits for a few weeks and will probably return home for anything non urgent has a much lower risk. The premiums charged reflect the historic costs incurred, plus a margin.

I think that's the first time I've seen someone complain that insurance is too cheap!

nztim

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#3398642 31-Jul-2025 09:52

I use 1Cover frequent traveler, year-round travel insurance with for circa $750 for 2 middle anged travelers with a max trip length of 45 days

NOTE: if you rent a car in the US you will always need to get the extra insurances as the NZ Insurance plans have "excess reduction to basic car insurance" when you rent a car in the US there is "No Insurance" in the base price unlike AU and Europe where there insurance included with excess of $5000 (paid by travel insurance if you have an accident)

Any views expressed on these forums are my own and don't necessarily reflect those of my employer.

duckDecoy

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#3398663 31-Jul-2025 10:56

eracode:

You may find this recent post helpful - and that whole thread. My post there is about Canada and Southern Cross but it would be the same for USA.

And the issue discussed in that thread is STILL not resolved.... so personally i'd not recommend 1Cover

duckDecoy

898 posts

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#3398664 31-Jul-2025 10:59

nztim:

I use 1Cover frequent traveler, year-round travel insurance with for circa $750 for 2 middle anged travelers with a max trip length of 45 days

NOTE: if you rent a car in the US you will always need to get the extra insurances as the NZ Insurance plans have "excess reduction to basic car insurance" when you rent a car in the US there is "No Insurance" in the base price unlike AU and Europe where there insurance included with excess of $5000 (paid by travel insurance if you have an accident)

Not sure if you've ever had to claim, but here's a thread on our (still ongoing) experience with 1Cover. Perhaps your experience will be better than ours.

mail2mm

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#3398693 31-Jul-2025 12:56

SCTI has worked well for me on 6 or 7 trips to the USA during the past twenty years. My trips have all been 60 to 90 days to see family and friends. Twice I have had relatively small claims, less than NZ$3,000 each, and had no trouble with the claim process or being paid.

Once we needed medical advice while travelling and received prompt, sympathetic and good practical advice using the SCTI call for help line.

noroad

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#3398709 31-Jul-2025 13:41

Sometimes it works out well to use the bundled insurance that is usually offered with your airline tickets. The thing I like about this is it tends to cover you for more and without asking you any medical questions. All though I had a weird one recently with a multi-city trip via Qantas that missed the country the the return flight was coming from. An email fixed it, but something to watch for.

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

invisibleman18

1362 posts

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#3398716 31-Jul-2025 14:14

Go with Southern Cross.

My medical experience in USA is from doing some travel in 2009 after I finished studying. I was staying with a relative in LA and got ill – turned out to just be food poisoning, likely from something I’d eaten in Las Vegas in the few days prior (I narrowed it down to probably Carl's Jr or Tropicana Hotel buffet). Relative took me to her doctors. Someone came into the room with a clipboard to make sure I had insurance etc before anyone would see me. They insisted on mailing a bill back to NZ rather than have me pay on site. I explained I was going to be traveling for a few months and wouldn’t be back home for some time but they didn’t care, just said they had to send it in the post. So fair enough, suited me not having to pay for now. Gave me a script for some anti-nausea tablets but they were going to be $1000US to pay there and then so left it.

Bill arrived in NZ some time later while I was then in Europe with some instructions for paying online. From memory it was about $200US so could have been worse. Southern Cross said I needed to pay it and they would reimburse (didn't seem to be any excess from memory). My Mum tried to pay it online and over the phone as she was at home but they wouldn’t accept an overseas credit card. Possibly I could have just left it and let them chase me, but figured I might want to go back to USA one day (I have done a couple of times since then), and it was my relative’s Doctors so they knew her etc. Eventually she paid it with a US cheque and I sent her the money (think I sent her an NZ cheque as they were still a thing then).

Had no receipt or anything. So submitted the claim to Southern Cross with a letter explaining what happened and how it got paid and that I reimbursed my relative, and a copy of my bank statement showing the amount I sent her. Didn’t expect this to work but they paid it no questions asked so have always used them for any travel since. Haven’t had to make another claim yet. I guess if it had been thousands they would have wanted more documentation but it was a relatively small amount. Anyway have heard horror stories with others being a nightmare to get to pay out so would always go Southern Cross.

robocat

109 posts

Master Geek

#3398717 31-Jul-2025 14:22

noroad:

Sometimes it works out well to use the bundled insurance that is usually offered with your airline tickets. The thing I like about this is it tends to cover you for more and without asking you any medical questions. [snip]

I'm using House of Travel. They offered insurance with: Insurance is issued and managed by AWP Services New Zealand Limited trading as Allianz Partners under binder with and on behalf of Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company, Limited as the underwriter. There is a significant exclusion: "Cover for pre-existing medical conditions will not be provided". Quote was $540 with $250 excess for a month's comprehensive cover.I know nothing about the quality of the insurance, but your point of contact is House of Travel so perhaps good customer service?

I'm tending towards getting SCTI insurance medical only : $260 with $100 excess (but price jumps up heaps if you have a preexisting condition). I usually pick a bigger excess too (which screwed me last time I wanted to claim because costs for stitches were just a bit more than excess so I didn't bother claiming just to get <$100 .).

I'm only really worried about large expenses - say more than $20k.

k1w1k1d

1526 posts

Uber Geek

#3398723 31-Jul-2025 14:42

Just make sure that you get full medical repatriation insurance.

robocat

109 posts

Master Geek

#3398923 31-Jul-2025 21:48

shk292:

I think that's the first time I've seen someone complain that insurance is too cheap!

Kaiser Permanente 2024 bronze ACA cover for US couple:

2 x age 50 USD980 = ~$1660

2 x age 60 USD1489 = ~$2520

Looks like SCTI travel insurance is significantly less than those numbers. Large price differentials such as that do not give me confidence: I've read too many horror stories about people bankrupted by US health "care". (Non-political - I'm regularly very disappointed in the NZ health system for friends and family). Price is only an indicator, but it is harder to compare other dimensions like quality etc. Aside: looks like Kaiser Permanente doesn't cover Louisiana.

Asteros

265 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3398924 31-Jul-2025 22:01

"Southern Cross Benefits Limited has an A (Strong) financial strength rating given by Standard & Poor's (Australia) Pty Ltd."

Southern Cross is my preferred travel insurance company. I have used various Allianz affiliated companies previously but have switched back because of positive feedback regarding their claims process from customers and also insurance industry insiders. Touch wood I've never had to claim on my travel insurance policies but expensive medical claims are a fact of life travelling to America. They are a financially sound insurance company.

Aucklandjafa

398 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3398944 1-Aug-2025 04:55

Have always used SCTI. Dislocated my shoulder snowboarding last year (med bills totalling $10k) but they even, without question, refunded my unused days lift passes - had a $0 excess which made it even better.

They were a bit flakey with the medical bills, initially they said they have a pay and claim (reimbursement) policy. Only once when I said my bill was $10k they then dealt directly with the US medical department.

cddt

1561 posts

Uber Geek

#3398950 1-Aug-2025 06:52

invisibleman18:

Bill arrived in NZ some time later while I was then in Europe with some instructions for paying online. From memory it was about $200US so could have been worse. Southern Cross said I needed to pay it and they would reimburse (didn't seem to be any excess from memory). My Mum tried to pay it online and over the phone as she was at home but they wouldn’t accept an overseas credit card. Possibly I could have just left it and let them chase me, but figured I might want to go back to USA one day (I have done a couple of times since then), and it was my relative’s Doctors so they knew her etc. Eventually she paid it with a US cheque and I sent her the money (think I sent her an NZ cheque as they were still a thing then).

I had a similar problem when we needed to take our daughter to a hospital in the USA in 2019. They didn't want us to pay then, they wanted to send us a bill. But their system couldn't handle a foreign address. So the lady wrote it down on a piece of paper and left. We never received a bill, although we were more than willing to pay when we were there in person.

My referral links: BigPipe | Mercury

shk292

2857 posts

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#3398952 1-Aug-2025 07:05

robocat:

Kaiser Permanente 2024 bronze ACA cover for US couple:

2 x age 50 USD980 = ~$1660

2 x age 60 USD1489 = ~$2520

Looks like SCTI travel insurance is significantly less than those numbers. Large price differentials such as that do not give me confidence: I've read too many horror stories about people bankrupted by US health "care". (Non-political - I'm regularly very disappointed in the NZ health system for friends and family). Price is only an indicator, but it is harder to compare other dimensions like quality etc. Aside: looks like Kaiser Permanente doesn't cover Louisiana.

wow, ok well if you want to pay that much I’m sure nobody will stop you

the only horror stories I’ve read in this area are about people travelling without insurance, although there is a cautionary tale in this thread

the one travel insurance I get is the free one from using my credit card. I had cause to claim about $1200 of medical expenses on it recently and it was a very hassle free process. They even paid for my visit to a gp in nz on return

as I said above, it’s all about probability and risk, and everyone has their own risk appetite

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